'Sopranos' Uninvited, Mayor Finds a Parade He Can Refuse

A New York parade without politics is like pretzels without beer -- the former without the latter is hardly worth having. The Columbus Day Parade on Monday will be no exception: Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg will not be marching, the first time in recent memory that the city's mayor has skipped the event out of pique.

Mr. Bloomberg's decision was brought on by the parade's organizers, who went to court on Thursday to keep his guests -- two actors from the HBO mob drama ''The Sopranos'' -- from marching with him.

The troubles began this week, when a Daily News gossip column revealed that Mayor Bloomberg had invited Dominic Chianese, who plays Uncle Junior on the show, and Lorraine Bracco, who plays Dr. Jennifer Melfi, to march in the parade.

This did not sit well with the parade's organizers, the Columbus Citizens Foundation, for two reasons. One, the mayor never asked them. And two, the group finds ''The Sopranos'' offensive and believes it denigrates Italians.

The group, whose president is Lawrence Auriana, a Wall Street money manager, filed a lawsuit in Federal District Court in Manhattan to compel the mayor to march without his guests. Mr. Bloomberg said he invited the two actors not because of their roles on the show -- a program he said he did not even watch -- but because they have contributed to New York City and because they are his friends.

Judge Jed S. Rakoff declined to force the mayor to march, but ruled that Mr. Bloomberg had to decide whether to attend the parade without the ''Sopranos'' cast members or not attend at all.

Thus the mayor will not march Monday.

''This lawsuit was a waste of the city's time,'' said Edward Skyler, the mayor's press secretary. ''And this group should be ashamed of themselves for bringing it. The mayor will not be marching.''

Mr. Bloomberg will march in two parades on Sunday -- the Bronx Columbus Day Parade and the Hispanic Day Parade in Midtown -- but will spend Monday with Ms. Bracco and Mr. Chianese eating Italian food at Dominick's on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx. ''Last we heard, they didn't ban Sopranos at Dominick's,'' Mr. Skyler said.

''I grew up in the Bronx, and it is my honor to celebrate Columbus Day there with the mayor and Lorraine,'' Mr. Chianese said in a statement. ''Where you celebrate the holiday is not important. Who you celebrate it with is what counts. I want to thank the mayor for supporting us and taking this issue so seriously.''

It is highly unusual for a sitting mayor to refuse the invitation of a major ethnic group to march in its parade. But there have been controversies. Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia threatened to boycott the Columbus Day Parade in 1935 if it was overtaken by fascists.

Robert DiLallo, a spokesman for the organizers, said he believed that a mayor's skipping the Columbus Day Parade ''has not happened.''

Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani once accused Ruth W. Messinger, then the Manhattan borough president and a mayoral candidate, of not marching far enough along the Columbus Day Parade route, which he said demonstrated her indifference to Italians. (Mr. Giuliani has urged the parade's organizers to stop feeling so insulted this time.)

Mayor David N. Dinkins refused to march in the St. Patrick's Day Parade because organizers would not permit a gay group to march. The point at which a mayor enters a parade route -- for example, after St. Patrick's Cathedral in the gay pride parade -- and with whom he marches is always a matter for political dissection.

''The Sopranos'' has been the subject of controversy over its portrayal of Italian-Americans since the show began three years ago, leading some to suggest that the mayor should not have been surprised by the reaction to his invitation. ''A little more politics would have helped on this one,'' said Jeffrey Plaut, a political consultant in New York. ''There is kind of a silly factor here, but this kind of shows a certain kind of stubbornness on the mayor's part.''

In court yesterday, Judge Rakoff heard arguments from the parade organizers and the corporation counsel, Michael A. Cardozo. Judge Rakoff concluded that the invitation to the mayor did not allow him to include the ''Sopranos'' cast members, and added that he could hold the mayor in contempt of court if he tried to do otherwise, even raising the specter of federal marshals. Mr. Cardozo assured the judge that ''there is no need to arrest the mayor.''

The judge seemed slightly amused by what he called ''this little diversion.'' He observed at one point that he was ''one of the two or three people in the universe who have never seen 'The Sopranos.' ''

Afterward, lawyers for both sides said they were pleased with the outcome. ''If the mayor doesn't march we would regret it, but the march will go on,'' said Frank Fusaro, a vice president of the foundation. ''We're sorry it got to this point.''

Italian-Americans Voice Views on Marchers

Gay Talese

Author of, among other books, ''Unto the Sons,'' a chronicle and memoir of Italian-American immigration:

It seems like the Italian-Americans are the only people you're allowed to make fun of. Now, I'm an absolutist on First Amendment rights -- I wish Bloomberg were as tolerant of smoking as he is of allowing Sopranos to traipse through in the steps of some cardinal and some righteous Italian-American. Really, you're dealing with depictions here. It's not as if Carmine Galante were marching in the Columbus Day Parade, or John Gotti's son. But then, would Al Jolson in blackface singing ''Mammy'' be appropriate for a Martin Luther King parade?

Frank Pellegrino Sr.

Owner of Rao's, the exclusive little Italian restaurant in East Harlem:

I don't think any Italian-American should be denied the privilege of honoring Columbus Day or of being allowed to march in that parade. I've worked with the bulk of these actors over the past 20 years -- I knew them before they were Sopranos -- and the reality is that a great number of Sopranos people have given their time and their services to charities, and they too should be recognized for the good that they do. Dominic (Chianese) has done so much great work -- he goes to old-age homes with his guitar and entertains people. These people are artists and they work very hard at their craft.

Rudolph W. Giuliani

The former mayor:

I'm a big ''Sopranos'' fan. The show is a terrific show, and I would urge some Italian-Americans to be less sensitive. You could spend your whole life wanting to be insulted. Why? Why do you want to be insulted?

Dominick DeProspo

Co-founder of the Bronx Columbus Day Parade:

I tell you, I couldn't have them march in my parade. I'd lose my financial people. I've been getting those phone calls all today -- 'If you let them march I'm pulling out my money' -- and if I don't have no donations, I don't have a band, I don't have a parade. The Columbus Day people in Manhattan are right. You can't have that. What happens is this -- you give them an inch and they take a yard. You let them march in the parade, first they come with two, then there's six. They're like ants at a picnic. You see one and then you look down and there's 40 of them.